Nightmare in Beach City
by UnstableUniverses
Summary: A new gem has been giving Steven nightmares. Follow him as he learns to face his fears and stop the monster lurking in the shadows. Written for the Unstable Universes podcast.


Orange light glowed through the steam coming off the old pipes in the dank boiler room. The smell of rust and mildew filled Steven's nose as he crept toward an unknown destination. The only sound was the splash of his sandaled feet on the drenched concrete floor. He peered over the top of his reassuring pink shield as he made his slow advance.

Steven paused to consider whether to take a left or right at a dead-end intersection, but quickly realized despite his lack of movement, the sound of footsteps continued, and they were getting louder. He spun around to face the approaching noise.

"Amethyst? Lars?" Steven called into the hazy darkness, "This isn't a fun game. Can we go back to the temple and play Lonely Blade instead, please?"

Out of the fog came a familiar voice, "Hello, Steven." The voice was soft and loving. Steven's eyes welled up at the sight of her as the eight foot tall gem stepped out of the steam and shadow.

"Mom! How did we get here? I – I don't understand what's going on," Steven poofed away his shield and fought back his tears as she approached him.

Rose Quartz knelt in front of him and wiped away the single tear that escaped. "It's all okay, Steven. Just come with me and we'll get out of here."

Steven looked down at her outstretched hand, waiting for him to take it. But he jumped back in surprise and horror, as a knife gruesomely extended from each finger on his mother's hand. Her dress fell away to reveal a striped red and green sweater. He looked back up to see his mother's round, caring face and perfectly pink ringlets melt away to a burned and disfigured face.

"What? No kiss for dear old mom?" The disfigured face still had his mother's voice.

The monster lunged forward, swiping at him with the bladed hand. Steven froze, unable to even summon his shield to defend himself. Instead, he stared at the knives coming toward him. He noticed, much like Garnet's gems, on the palm of the attacker's hand, was a green and brownish red gem.

Before the blades could make contact with Steven, his eyes opened and above him stood his guardians, Amethyst, Pearl, and Garnet.

"Steven! Are you alright?" Pearl's voice was filled with anxious concern.

"Yeah, little man! You were screaming like a baby," Amethyst laughed.

"I was at school, but in the basement, and I saw my mom, but she wasn't my mom, it was another gem! Green and red with knives on one hand!" Steven rambled.

Garnet pulled the small half-gem in for a hug and petted his hair. "Oh, Steven. It was just a nightmare. Why don't we get you a warm glass of milk and get you back to bed?"

Steven nodded sleepily. Pearl warmed up some milk on the stove and poured a glass for him and about six for Amethyst. They shared their late night beverage and Steven was soon back in bed, tucked under the covers, but he couldn't get back to sleep.

Down below, he heard worried whispers, followed by the temple gate open and all three gems step through the doorway. Steven rose from his bed and tiptoed toward the closing magical doorway. From within he heard the Crystal Gems arguing.

"It couldn't be, could it? He said he saw a red and green gem in his dream!" Pearl panicked.

"Of course not, Homeworld would never send a Chrysoprase. They were all shattered in the Rebellion." Garnet responded. "And their kindergartens were destroyed, the diamonds couldn't make any more if they wanted to."

"Uh, guys? We have some company." Amethyst interrupted, gesturing back toward the temple gate and Steven's poofy hair peeking out from the frame.

"Steven, come in here," Garnet reassured, beckoning the boy.

Steven stared at his feet as he shuffled towards his three mentors. They sat in the bubble room, with all the corrupted gems in their bubbles, floating around their heads.

"I want you to tell me about the new gem. Why am I having nightmares?" Steven asked.

"During the Rebellion, Homeworld needed a new way to get information from the Crystal Gems, so they developed a new gem called a Chrysoprase. A Chrysoprase can sneak into the dreams of other gems from a distance and trap them there to interrogate the gem for information because you can't lie in dreams. In some particularly dire cases, a Chrysoprase could even shatter a gem from within the dream," Garnet explained.

Steven's eyes were welling up with tears again, he hated to hear stories about the Rebellion and shattering gems, and Garnet hated telling them, but if there truly was a Chrysoprase after him, then he needed to be prepared.

Garnet continued on, "But they always had one weakness. You have to remember it's your dream. It's yours, so you control it. Then you grab a hold of the Chrysoprase and make yourself wake up. You'll bring them right out of the dream world with you, and in the real world, a Chrysoprase is incredibly vulnerable."

"Garnet, that's too much to ask of Steven," Pearl scolded, "He's a child! We could barely handle Chrysoprases and we were over a thousand years old!"

"Unfortunately, he doesn't have a choice," Garnet replied, and all of the gems nodded solemnly.

Despite his fear, Steven was beginning to doze again, the warm milk having finally kicked in. Garnet picked him up, and together they all left the bubble room. Garnet placed him back in bed, already mostly asleep.

The last words he heard before he drifted off to sleep were the reassuring tones, letting him know they'd be there waiting for him to wake up.

Steven found himself in the humid boiler room again. Everything was the same as the last time, save for the quiet dripping of leaky pipes being replaced by the horrendous sound of metal scraping against metal. It echoed throughout the seemingly endless maze of pipes.

"I'm not afraid of you, Chrysoprase," he announced to the empty room.

"What are you talking about, Shtoo-ball?" came his father's voice from behind him. Steven spun around as quickly as he could to see his father holding his guitar and sitting in the back of his van, impossibly parked in the boiler room. The metal scraping noise had stopped. "Come pop a squat with Dad and we can jam."

"No, Chrysoprase! What do you want?" Steven demanded, taking a step toward the airbrushed van.

"Aw, come on, Shtoo-ball. Let's… shred." Just like the last time, the familiar voice remained, but the body of the being in front of him transformed. The same burnt face and red and green sweater faced him once again. The monster's hand strummed down, but instead of playing a chord, the knives on the ends of his fingers cut each string with a harsh _twang_.

The monster threw the guitar to the side and lunged at Steven, grabbing him by the hair with his non-knife-wearing hand. He lifted the gem boy so that they were eye to eye.

"The name's Freddy, Steven" their voice had returned to their own, rather than imitating one of his parents. "And the game is question and answer, ready?"

"No!" Steven shouted in the scary gem's face. He heeded Garnet's advice, closed his eyes, and grabbed a hold of the Chrysoprase's torso in a tight bear hug. As his hands met behind Freddy's back, he pinched himself hard on the forearm, causing a jolt of minor pain to buzz up his body, but it was enough.

When he opened his eyes again, he was in his bed, surrounded by the Crystal Gems and the Chrysoprase still in his bear hug. He let go and the before Freddy could get out another one liner, the gems descended and poofed and bubbled.

"Well done, Steven. You were very brave to do that." Garnet congratulated, tussling his hair.

"Totally awesome, little man!" cheered Amethyst, somehow drinking yet more warm milk.

"Now do get some rest, we've still got training in the morning." Pearl reminded.

Steven laid back down, the excitement exhausting him past the point of response. He smiled softly as sleep took him for the third time that night, knowing no more nightmares could harm him.

THE END


End file.
